News and information

Brightest meteor shower of the summer on the way!

Next week is the annual Perseid meteor shower known to be the absolute brightest of all.

If it shines down on a moonless night, onlookers could be in for one of the most natural, exciting light shower ever, according to Channel 2 News.

Slated for the end of summer, the big meteor shower will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere.

“If you see one meteor shower this year, make it August’s Perseids or December’s Geminids,” NASA says. “The Perseids feature fast and bright meteors that frequently leave trains, and in 2015 there will be no moonlight to upstage the shower.”

The whole week around the shower is bet to be exciting for all stargazers. The meteor shower will be happening just one day before the new mean prefacing a night sky that is dark, a perfect canvas for the show.

Observers can expect to see over 100 shooting stars that night in only one hour, a show that has not been on stage in the sky since 2010.

Fortunately for all, seasoned stargazers and not, the meteor shower will be so extravagant that there will be no additional equipment necessary to enjoy the show. But it is warned that the best views of the shower will be closer to predawn hours, so a late night might be called for.

The meteor shower is active through most of July and through August, but the show experts are talking about is expected between August 12-13.

The Perseids are named after the constellation Persues. This happened because that is where the meteors are guessed to have originated from when looking up into the sky. Composed of particles released from Comet 109/Swift-Tuttle, the meteor shower comes from its many trips to the inner solar system where there are a multitude of terrestrial planets as well as asteroids.